Hard Hawk Hockey

It’s kind of messy

After the dust has somewhat settled, and after I have had a chance to read some (not all) of the information on the recent firing of Dale Tallon, one thing for sure that I can say is that once again the Blackhawks have made this a very interesting summer. I would say that since Dale was actually reassigned and made a senior advisor, maybe the Hawks should have handled things a bit differently.

Upon making the announcement that Tallon was fired as GM, and that assistant GM Stan Bowman was made new GM, Tallon was then named senior advisor, a position also held by Stan’s father Scotty Bowman. Sheesh!! Tallon also signed a two year extension accepting the position and remaining with the Hawks, an organization he has been with now for over 30 years.

The reason for the firing/reassignment has come down to the RFA offers that were not mailed out on time. Tallon like the good soldier that he is, said that he would take the blame for that. Hawks president and chief marketing guru John McDonough also shared some of the blame, but squarely said that it was the main reason for the change. Personally I would like to believe that there is someone assigned with making sure the mail gets out on time, especially things like these offers. However there are so many people in that front office, it could easily have been an oversight. However it is one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make. The problem was quickly resolved when all RFA’s were signed before they were lost, and granted Cam Barker and Kris Versteeg probably made a few dollars more than they should have, the situation was resolved.

The parts of this that are bothersome to me have to do with timing. Right before the Blackhawks summer convention? First we have all known that Tallon’s days were numbered last year when Scotty was signed, so why wait so long after the season was over? Unless of course you were hoping Tallon would do something stupid and there would be your excuse. Secondly, Rocky Wirtz made a very “silly” comment indicating that Stan is younger. I will paraphrase: We like getting younger people involved. Dale is 58, and is getting old. Rocky then proceeded to say that he’s 56 and he’s getting old. WOW. Could have a discrimination thing going here. But Tallon signing on for two more years probably negates any leverage he may have had.

Let’s also admit that while Tallon did make some poor decisions, and what GM doesn’t? His players thought very highly of him, and he made some pretty good moves as well. Getting Patrick Sharp from Philly for next to nothing. Getting Kris Versteeg for Brandon Bochenski was a steal. Drafting Kane & Toews, and his overall influence on most of the Hawks roster was a calming effect. Dale was a staple.
He had served in many capacities with the Hawks, and has had some success, and was mostly responsible for being the architect of this current resurgence. At least as far as assembling the roster goes.

But, he made some mistakes too. Martin Havlat except for his last year here was not a good deal overall, however he was their most consistent player last year. Nikolai Khabibulin, also was injured a majority of the time. Although last year was a banner year for him, even though it was a contract year. Not signing Havlat to a long term deal in favor of Marion Hossa? I’m ok with that. Hossa has been injury free for the most part and giving Havlat longer than 2 years could have been a mistake. Giving Hossa 12 years is nuts! Signing Khabibulin longer than one year would have been a problem too. He is 36, and has shown that the injury bug hits him as well. However, the Campbell signing and the Huet signing are major problems. While Campbell does improve the power play and is a good puck moving defenseman, he’s grossly overpaid. You cannot tell me that he’s worth as much as Chara for example. Huet, well the jury is still out on this one, but I think that at 34 years old, and a goalie who never really has played more than 50 games, it was a risk. We will find out very quickly this year if Huet is the answer in net. If he resembles anything like he did in game 5 of the conference finals, I’ll be ok with it. If he falters, it’s going to be a tough contract to move.

Which brings us to the salary cap issue. The Hawks are going to have a problem. Potentially. This year they are already over the cap, so expect a move or two to be made. Next year, three big name players must be kept. Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane. I don’t care (well I do) what has to happen, but in no way are these three players to leave this team. The problem is going to be who do you move, and for that, the Hawks better hope that they make the right choices. Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien are two names that continue to be mentioned. I don’t want either of them to go, but it may come down to them, as well as a couple others. Stan Bowman who is in charge of the cap numbers seems to feel everything will work itself out. I hope so. This change in management was handled like a hot potatoe, and for all the good the Hawks have done recently, it doesn’t need to be wiped out by a PR blunder and some fat contracts that should have never been given.

Time heals all wounds, and we’ll all get over this, but what scares me is that the Hawks mentality of how they have done things with their management recently. Denis Savard being fired, didn’t bother me. The timimg did. Tallon being reassigned, kind of bothers me, but if they did it after last season, I probably wouldn’t mind. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out and the rest of the summer will give us a chance to see how things go.

In closing, I just pray that Kane and Toews don’t end up going the way some other famous Hawk players have gone. Here’s a list:
Phil Esposito, Bobby Hull (I cried as a kid when this happened), Ed Belfour, Chris Chelios, Steve Larmer, and finally my favorite Hawk of all time, Jeremey Roenick. JR deserved to be with the hawks forever. He was never the same after he left, but sure enough, his years here were the best. We loved him and he loved us back. He was traded for Alexei Zhamnov? I was so mad a Wirtz for this, I could have shot him! He really hurt the franchise when he pulled that one. As for Kane and Toews, they deserve better fate than what ended up happening to these other players. Only time will tell.

Thanks for reading